I have a section of my layout that will be built with Lionel O Gauge Track. It will be a fairly simple loop with one by-pass. I'm using this loop to add in a bunch of Lionel operating accessories.
The base is currently foam with a coating of brown paint. I want to add some ground cover initially with just some sand. What is the preferred technique for this? Paint on some 50/50 glue water solution and then add the sand or lay down the sand and then spray with the 50/50 glue & water solution?
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My immediate reaction is, what are you using? Is it real sand? Real sand is very hard to control, i.e. keep it confined to a single area. I would suggest you use kinetic sand, stuff you would get in the kids section of a store like Michael's. It's sort of moldable and easier to work with IMO. You can fit it exactly into areas you want. The NJ Hi-Railers have a resort/beach scene that covers a fairly large area. All of this was done with kinetic sand. It's firmness is also advantageous in that it enables you to move stuff around, and even crawl around in that area if there's need to reach something or what have you without making too much of a mess. You can easily push it back into place and smooth it over.
Might be pricier but I think you'll end up with fewer potential headaches. Having said all that, I've never tried gluing down sand like one would do ballast. The area you're working on is obviously much smaller, but I still think you'd be better off trying the "fake" sand.
So I use the 50 50 method. Then sand. Then spray with alcohol and use 1/3 glue 2/3 water with a few drops of dish detergent. The saturate the sand.
Put the glue down first, then the ground cover material, whatever it might be.
If you put the sand down first, when you go to spray the glue on it, the force of the spray will inevitably blow some of the sand out of place. It makes a mess.
If you put the glue down first, you will have much more precise control over the placement of the sand or other ground cover material.
Thank you for your helpful responses. I think the kinetic sand might be a little more than I want to spend. I already have the play sand. I'll try brushing on the glue mixture first and then sprinkle on the sand and then re-apply some wet water glue. I'll post pictures once I'm done.
What they all said. On this little scene, I put down a bead of full strength glue on this area to keep the sand in place, then spread a 50/50 mix, sprinkled with the sand then sprayed with alcohol, and flooded with the 50/50 mix again. Further, taking a tip from Hotwater, I used a layer of sand first to save on brennan’s ballast and glued in the same way.
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